Tag Archives: Jesus

G*d’s Son, the second person of the Holy Trinity, Messiah, Savior

Unknown's avatar Rev. David J. Schreffler 4:44 am on May 22, 2015
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Slip Slidding Away — Rev. David J. Schreffler

May 22, 2015

“When Jesus got into the boat, his disciples followed him. And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but (Jesus) he was asleep. And they went and woke him, saying, “Save, Lord; we are perishing.” And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O men of little faith?” The he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.” Matthew 8:23 – 26

“Hold fast to the rudder of faith, that you may not be shaken by the heavy storms of this world. The sea, indeed, is vast and deep, but do not fear for “He has founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the waves.” …the Church of the Lord amid all the seas of the world stands immovable, built, as it were, upon the apostolic rock. The waves pour over it, but it is not shaken.” Ambrose, Bishop of Milan (333 – 397) “For All The Saints”, Volume III (p. 1257)

I was watching the news the other day, and I saw a story about a cruise ship that was caught in a storm with waves towering 30 feet or more – tossing the ship and its contents to and fro. They showed a video link of people on one of the decks of the ship who were trying to get to one place or another, only to have the ship suddenly tilt and the people were tossed or sent sliding in the opposite direction. A piano was sliding back and forth, knocking anything and everything out of its way. A poor woman, sliding from one side of the room to another narrowly missed the piano but slid headfirst into a pole.

My friends, there are going to be days where we feel as if we have been run over by a piano, or slammed our heads into a pole. But Jesus never leaves us or forsakes us. Jesus is the one who picks us up and says “Do not be afraid” – these storms are going to happen but they teach us more about ourselves and our faith than all the calm seas of our lives. Calm seas give us a false hope that life will always be sunshine and smooth water. Our faith in Jesus prepares us for the storms, and reminds us that Jesus is there before the storm, during the storm, and after the storm to pick us up with the promise of life now, and eternal life.

Pastor Dave

Unknown's avatar Rev. David J. Schreffler 4:44 am on May 19, 2015
Tags: , Jesus   

Chi – Rho — Rev. David J. Schreffler

May 19, 2015 – “X” is for the Greek letter “Chi”

Chi is the 22nd letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has the value of 600. The Chi – Rho is the oldest known monogram (or letter symbol) for Christ. Some call it a “Christogram” and it dates back to the Emperor Constantine, who, whether the story is true or not, is supposed to have seen a Chi-Rho in the sky on the eve of a great battle – signaling to him that he would be victorious. And because he was victorious, this led to his conversion to Christianity and the legalization of Christianity. Chi (x = ch) and Rho (p = r) are the first three letters of “Christ” or “Christos” in the Greek language. The Chi-Rho then is formed by superimposing the first two (capital) letters chi and rho (ΧΡ) of the Greek word “ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ” = Christ in such a way to produce the monogram. Although not technically a Christian cross, the Chi-Rho invokes the crucifixion of Jesus, as well as symbolising his status as the Christ.

There are many symbols that we might find on the altar in our churches or on the Paschal Candle, or the Christ Candle in the altar space. Such symbols or abbreviations include:

ΙϹΧϹ — a traditional abbreviation of the Greek words for “Jesus Christ” (i.e., the first and last letters of each of the words ΙΗΣΟΥΣ ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ — written “ΙΗϹΟΥϹ ΧΡΙϹΤΟϹ” with the lunate sigma “Ϲ” common in medieval Greek).

In many Protestant churches today, the most common Christogram became “IHS” or “IHC”, denoting the first three letters of the Greek name of Jesus, IHΣΟΥΣ, iota-eta-sigma, or ΙΗΣ. (It does not stand for “one hour service”)

“IHS” is sometimes interpreted as meaning Iesus Hominum Salvator (“Jesus, Saviour of men” in Latin) or connected with In Hoc Signo.

The acronym INRI (Latin: Iēsus Nazarēnus, Rēx Iūdaeōrum) represents the Latin inscription which in English reads as “Jesus the Nazarene, King of the Jews” and John 19:20 states that this was written in three languages—Hebrew, Latin, and Greek—during the crucifixion of Jesus. The Greek version reads “ΙΝΒΙ”, representing Ἰησοῦς ὁ Ναζωραῖος ὁ Bασιλεὺς τῶν Ἰουδαίων.

Pastor Dave